Shadowhunters Cast Reacts to SaveShadowhunters Campaign

TV Guide

Friday

Aug 10, 2018 at 12:09 PM

Shadowhunters cancellation this spring was unexpected to say the least, and fans of the show have worked tirelessly over the summer to raise money and awareness in the hopes of saving their show. Don't believe me? Tweet out #SaveShadowhunters and wait. I dare you.

Over the last few months, Shadowhunters fans have launched a campaign that's included flying a #SaveShadowhunters banner over Netflix headquarters, renting a billboard in Times Square, launching a London bus campaign as well as several other inventive ideas. Perhaps most impressively, the fandom has raised over $20,000 for The Trevor Project in the name of the show's diverse casting and representation. These fans aren't sleeping on the job!

Despite fans' amazing efforts, it doesn't look like Shadowhunters is likely to live to see another season, but they won't just be left hanging with an unsatisfying, abrupt ending when Season 3 wraps up. Freeform gave the series a 2-hour finale episode to tie up lose ends and finish out the series, and from what I saw when I visited the set during the final days of filming, it's going to be an episode for the ages.

Shadowhunters: Jonathan Morgenstern Is Getting a New Look

While there, I also got to chat with the cast about the show coming to a close as well as the #SaveShadowhunters movement and how utterly blown away they all are at what the fandom has been able to achieve in their names.

Alberto Rosende (Simon): It's really a gift when you're a part of something that affects people the way that it's affected the group of people that are pushing the #SaveShadowhunters agenda. To have created something that resonates with them, that makes them strive for a better world is really a gift, and it's not something we often come by as artists, although it's something that we all at some point in our lives want to achieve; that resonance in our community and in our world, it's cool that we've achieved. But even more so, the coolest thing for me is seeing this group of people who are internationally connected that are pushing for things they want to see, trying to educate the world, trying to change their environment in a positive way. You see that with their donation to the Trevor Project and everything that they've been able to do. As much as I love that there's a focus around #SaveShadowhunters, the true power isn't in just the show, it's in the fact that they've created a community that can do that and has done it on a global scale. It's something that people would never say could have happened, and more so than the #SaveShadowhunters thing, they should be super proud and we're super proud that we could motivate a group of people to do something like that. It's cool. Humbling.

Emeraude Toubia (Isabelle): It's just like thank you to the fans. They've really gone way beyond with everything they've done. They sent cupcakes the other day to set! I had like three of them [laughs]. But yeah, the billboards and Times Square and Comic-Con and flying a freaking plane around Netflix headquarters and Freeform and Disney. Their attitude, they're just -- they're rock stars.

Dominic Sherwood (Jace): I think the biggest thing for us is we're seeing actual money going into these campaigns, and I think the most gratifying and most heartwarming feeling I get is when that money is transferred to a charity in the name of Shadowhunters and the name of the fandom and the name of all the guys that have worked so hard up here. If someone can really benefit from that, then that's great, and I think that's what we should keep doing. The Trevor Project, we raised a lot of money for that, which was fantastic, and I think if we can keep doing that in the name of Shadowhunters then that's the best legacy we can leave.

Harry Shum Jr. (Magnus): The beauty is that they have this beautiful story that amounts to like 56 episodes or something like that, of being able to go back to it and relive those moments that a lot of these fans have expressed to us have helped them so much with their own personal lives, whether it be their sexuality or their confidence. I remember meeting a couple fans, going to a convention and them just crying and saying how much it meant to them and how it was such a beautiful thing for them to watch the show and see people that they kind of really related to and felt like they wanted to be just as strong as these characters were on the screen. That in itself is what makes the show worth it to me to be part of.

Matthew Daddario (Alec): The enthusiasm is a beautiful thing, and we've been increasingly shocked every time we see something new come out that they've done. It's like, "Okay, wow! Didn't realize you guys were this capable, this efficient and this creative!" It's very fascinating, and I love the enthusiasm. The charity efforts are really good, because it's not just selfish, it's not just, "We want our show back," it's also, "Look we have this show that we bonded over, and we're going to try to do something for the community, and really support something that's good for all people, The Trevor Project." It's really kind of touching.

Katherine McNamara (Clary): It's been the biggest comfort in a time that's been kind of shocking and very interesting. With the cancellation of the show being so unexpected, having the fans still care so much and having this last 2-hour episode, it really allows us to go out with a bang not a fizzle, which is I think the biggest blessing in all of that. This show has been such a celebration of all of these beautiful things, the fact that we get to wrap it up our way is really beautiful. That's been the mood on set too, it's been bittersweet of course, but everyone's now kind of free to be creative and fun and really think about how we want to finish things... Personally, it's kind of allowed me to look at this whole experience from 50,000 feet and kind of realize truly how special it is. I've always known that it's special and it's always something that I'll remember for the rest of my life, but in hindsight I started this show when I was 19 and I'll be 23 by the time it ends. That's a huge, influential chunk of my life, and to be surrounded by people who are not only artists but good people and creative and supportive and amazing at what they do, it's been such an amazing environment to be in personally and professionally. I have a family here now, and I'll always be grateful for that. And for the fandom as well, who's worked tirelessly to really come together as a group in a world that is so divisive. It's amazing to see people who celebrate each others' artwork and who come together and welcomed us into their fandom for something that's ultimately all about love and acceptance and unity.